Met Police close specialist riot unit used during terror attacks to cut costs

Riot Police of the Territorial Support Group put on a public order demonstration in 2009Getty

A specialist police riot squad based in central London has been decommissioned amid allegations of wrongful claiming of overtime and bullying by some of its officers. Scotland Yard said the withdrawal of the Territorial Support Group (TSG) based in Westminster is due to cutting costs not the ongoing misconduct investigation.

More than 20 officers at TSG face disciplinary action over allegations relating to working practices, unauthorised claiming of overtime and bullying, including four police sergeants facing hearings over alleged gross misconduct.

Five constables were sanctioned for claiming four hours' overtime which they had not worked and two constables face misconduct meetings. Metropolitan Police said a further 13 officers were given advice about professional standards following the probe headed by the force's Directorate of Professional Standards.

The TSG are an 800-strong specialist team who respond to spontaneous events such as a terrorist attack or public disorder. They played a crucial role in attempting to control the riots which occurred in the capital in the summer of 2011.

A Met spokesman said: "This is not linked to the decommissioning of the TSG base at Paddington Green. The TSG unit formerly based at Paddington Green was decommissioned in January 2016 as part of organisational restructuring to cut costs by reducing the number of buildings the task force operate from and improving efficiency by co-locating the specialist units of the command."